It would take 37 billion euros to repair the environmental and health damage caused by meat production and consumption in our country. The Lav investigation. It would take 37 billion euros to repair the environmental and health damage caused by meat production and consumption in our country. The Lav investigation.
Following the German study that calculated the cost of food taking into account its environmental impact (and which revealed that meat would increase in price by 146 per cent), an investigation by Lav (Lega anti vivisezione) has also sought to uncover the hidden costs, in environmental and health terms, of meat production and consumption in Italy.
The data emerging from the study, commissioned from Demetra, a consultancy specialising in scientific research on sustainability, reveal that, in a single year, 36.6 billion euros in "hidden" costs generated by the environmental and health impact of meat production and consumption in Italy fall on the community — costs that are not factored into the price citizens pay when purchasing animal-based foods. Divided by the Italian population, the damage generated by per capita meat consumption amounts to around 605 euros per year (between 316 and 1,530 euros per person). The average cost is split almost equally between environmental costs (48 per cent) and health costs (52 per cent).
The greatest damage is caused by processed pork (54 per cent), followed by fresh and processed beef (31 per cent). In the production of 1 kg of processed pork, the hidden cost amounts to 19 euros (5 euros in environmental damage and 14 euros in health damage); the figure is the same for beef, though there the proportion is reversed, with environmental damage (13.5 euros) exceeding health damage (5.4 euros); for one kilogram of fresh pork the surcharge is over 10 euros (4.9 in environmental costs, 5.4 in health costs), while it is around 5 euros per kilogram of chicken.
For Lav, the solution lies in activating national and EU policies that incentivise the consumption of plant proteins as an alternative to animal ones. The hidden cost of legumes would in fact amount to just 5 cents per 100-gram serving (compared, it should be remembered, to 1.90 euros for 100 grams of meat). And even excluding the benefits to the body derived from a legume-based diet, the hidden cost of meat is between 8 and 37 times that of legumes.
The association also proposes, on the other hand, cutting subsidies to the livestock supply chain. The research was published in the days following statements by the Minister for Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani who, speaking at a conference, argued that, for health and environmental reasons, plant proteins should be favoured over animal ones. Those statements, however, provoked fierce reactions from the Italian livestock sector. Solutions will need to be found by policymakers, but in the meantime consumer awareness could already point the way forward.